(c) Jussi Hellsten. 8.8.2014. Yesterday the people of Helsinki were invited to dine under the Helsinki sky in the inner yards, nearest parks or for example on the sidewalk in front of their own house. jussihellsten.com & visithelsinki.fi
The City of Helsinki encourages the organisation of events on its beaches. The Yhteismaa ry association, known for the Cleaning Day, Dinner under the Helsinki sky, the Nappi Naapuri service and many other projects that further communality and casual urban culture, is trying out a new operational model with the city. This summer, anyone can come up with an idea and organise their own public event on 13 beaches in Helsinki without licence procedure, only an announcement is required.
The idea behind Beach Summer came about in summer 2015 when Yhteismaa representatives heard of the Helsinki City Planning Department’s new summer exhibition called Waterline. One of the motives for the exhibition was to tell of the Helsinki shoreline, which is over 130 kilometres long.
”When I heard that 130 kilometres spoken out loud, I thought again that this is a miracle that probably cannot be found in any other place in the world and, above all, is open to all citizens. This is a unique thing even from a global perspective. We started working with Meri Louekari from the City Planning Department to come up with ideas on how we could encourage Helsinkians to find this common treasure. We decided to invent a method where the citizens enjoy the summer along our beach route, both in east and west”, says Yhteismaa’s Tanja Jänicke, who invented the Beach Summer concept.
The City Planning Department liked the idea and passed the challenge to the Public Works Department, which is responsible for the most part of the city’s joint premises. The Public Works Department liked the idea as well, and the representatives of the Police and the Rescue Department were sympathetic to it, too.
In summer 2016, the Economic Development unit of the Helsinki Executive Office joined the ranks of the Beach Summer project.
”The idea was so good that we wanted to assume part of the responsibility for making the event possible in the future as well. We hope that people get excited and seize this opportunity”, says Advisor Päivi Munther from the Economic Development unit.
Announce your event easily through the Rantakesa130km.fi website
The event areas are 13 different places that have been selected along the beach route. At these places, the licence process is scratched in favour of an announcement process, which makes it easy and uncomplicated for anyone to arrange an event.
Small or big things can happen along the beach route during the summer. The event season starts on Helsinki Day on 12 June and continues through the summer until 11 September.
Announcing an event can be done conveniently on the Beach Summer website and no separate licences are needed. However, the events must be open to all and free of charge, and no ”carouse festivals” or commercial events will be accepted.
If needed, Yhteismaa will provide advice and assistance for the event organisers, in practical things as well, but each producer is responsible for their own event. ”We believe that when we provide an opportunity to use the common city space in a nice way, the people will also take responsibility for the joint premises”, believes Tanja Jänicke.
”The renewed website has been opened and now we are waiting with excitement what kind of events are popping up on the map”, ponders Yhteismaa’s Pauliina Seppälä, who participates in the maintenance of the event concept.
City of Helsinki: news